Sunday, August 09, 2015

Nine years since her last Tevis Cup, Napa's Lindsay Graham Fisher makes Top 10 again

By Andy Wilcox
They’ve been companions on many memorable 100-mile rides during their eight years together – the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Ky., the 2011 Patriot’s Day Endurance Ride at Lake Almanor, where they broke the North American record with time of 6 hours, 53 minutes, the 2012 Presidents Cup in Abu Dhabi – and now the oldest 100-mile trail ride in the world.

Napa’s Lindsay Graham Fisher returned to the Tevis Cup 100-Miles-In-One-Day Trail Ride after a nine-year hiatus on Aug. 1, this time with trusty 13-year-old gelding Monk, and pulled off her second Top 10 finish in three tries at the ride along the Western States Trail from Truckee to Auburn.

They placed eighth out of 201 entrants, only 90 of which were able to finish within the 24-hour limit. They arrived at McCann Stadium 18 hours, 9 minutes after the 5:15 a.m. start at Robie Park.

“Monk is an incredible horse and athlete. He has been gifted with talent that not many horses have,” Graham Fisher of the horse, which is owned by Chris and Nancy Martin of Penn Valley. “I am not sure that I can put into words how much Monk means to me and how lucky I am to have been able to share so many wonderful experiences with this horse. Monk means the world to me. I would do anything for him, as he has already done everything for me.”

It was Graham Fisher’s first Tevis Cup attempt since 2006 when, just six years after graduating from Vintage High School, she pulled off a seventh-place finish – at the time the best-ever finish by a Napa Valley entrant in the ride. Her horse was 19-year-old Phoenix Affair, which after this year’s ride remains the oldest horse to crack the Tevis Top 10. This year’s third-place horse came close, though, at 18 years, three months...